1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to automotive vehicles and, more specifically, to a vehicle and a vehicle step apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle step apparatus known in the art are mounted on a chassis of a vehicle and are configured to assist passengers to get on or off the vehicle. A control circuit of the vehicle step apparatus is integrated in a control system of the vehicle, that is, a control signal of the control circuit accesses a CAN (Controller Area Network) bus of the vehicle. Because of technical confidentiality, many vehicle manufacturers may set protection measures for a communication system of the vehicle so as to prohibit an access of foreign signals.
Thus, where the control signal of the control circuit of the vehicle step apparatus cannot access the bus of the vehicle, mounting the vehicle step on the vehicle by integrating the control circuit of the vehicle to the bus of the vehicle becomes problematic. Moreover, in order to integrate the control circuit of the vehicle step apparatus in the bus of the vehicle, modification of the bus of the vehicle may be required, thereby increasing the cost and the complexity of the operation, as well as reducing the reliability of the vehicle.